Book-ended by the deaths of two unseen characters, 4000 Miles by Amy Herzog focuses on the healing wrought for Leo through the sometimes fractious relationship with his grandmother.

Both characters are based on two of the playwright’s relatives — her grandmother and a cousin. Individual scenes in this drama spiced with comic lines are engaging, apart from a barely credible sequence, in which grandson and grandmother get high on marijuana. (Drug-taking and drunk scenes are frequently repulsive or offensive and, except in rare cases, do little or nothing to add to plot or character.)

In this case, the pot-smoking segment underlines that, without strong performances and chemistry between the two leads, 4000 Miles would not be a journey worth undertaking. (It also makes it all the more surprising that Herzog’s episodic 2011 play was an award winner and a Pulitzer Prize finalist.)

Fortunately, Charlotte Stewart, with her usual fine timing and detailed characterization, is a delight as grandmother Vera and Cameron Jones is entirely credible as her hippie-style, emotionally tangled grandson, Leo. As well as defining the generational and lifestyle differences, they demonstrate their growing closeness, in part because they are equally distant from Leo’s mother/Vera’s stepdaughter, and in part because neither can shock the other by actions or words.

It is left to Bec, Leo’s on-again/off-again girlfriend, (Maria Mespolet) to be startled by Vera’s revelations about marriage. Completing the cast as Amanda is Karen Cheung, Leo’s failed attempt at a one-night stand. Mespolet provides a quiet, but not compelling, contrast to the feisty Vera, but Cheung’s Amanda might have been more effective, had director Sandy Wynne reined in the excessive exuberance she displays.

On the technical side, a highlight of the show is Dean Flockton’s excellent set that offers a very realistic New York ‘home’ for the cast.

 

The Kanata Theatre production of 4000 Miles continues to September 26.

 

4000 Miles

by Amy Herzog

Kanata Theatre

Director: Sandy Wynne

Set: Dean Flockton

Sound: Robert Fairbairn

Lighting: Iain McCracken and Steve Truelove

Costumes: Clare Flockton

 

Cast:

Vera…………………………………………………………Charlotte Stewart

Leo…………………………………………………………..Cameron Jones

Bec…………………………………………………………..Maria Mespolet

Amanda……………………………………………………..Karen Cheung